LONDON, June 26, 2024 (ATP Press Release)
The ATP today announced record social and digital audience growth across ATP athletes, tournaments and Tour, driven by the increasing global popularity of the sport, current generation of established and next-generation stars, and world-class tournaments.
Over the past 12 months, ATP athletes’ social media audiences have risen 10 per cent to 168 million globally, while ATP tournaments have increased their social media fan followings by 16 per cent, now totalling 8.8 million. During the same period, the ATP Tour’s social media reach across all official ATP Tour social media platforms has enjoyed record growth, increasing by 48 per cent to 2.9 billion, video views growing by 159 per cent, total social media audience growing seven per cent to 9.7 million followers, and website video views up 15 per cent.
“The incredible growth in popularity of ATP athletes and tournaments over the past year is reflected in the strong increases in social media audiences and engagement across our members and Tour,” said Andrew Walker, Senior Vice President, Brand & Marketing at the ATP Tour. “Our athletes in particular are increasingly a part of wider cultural conversations, bringing new fans to ATP tennis, and our marketing and social strategies are designed to foster and drive a more inclusive approach to fandom.”
Seventeen ATP athletes now boast more than one million followers on social media, and over the past 12 months ATP athletes have generated over 3.8 billion impressions on their social media channels. During that same period, ATP athletes have added more than 15 million new fans to their social media accounts. The increases follow the establishment of a dedicated ATP Athlete Marketing department in 2023, created to offer tailored digital content services to players, aiding in the growth of athlete brands and audiences.
ATP Masters 1000, ATP 500 and ATP 250 tournaments have collectively generated significant social media growth over the past 12 months, with social media views up 233 per cent to 787 million, social media impressions up 145 per cent to 1.5 billion and social media engagements up 133 per cent to 46 million. ATP Masters 1000 events alone have generated a 252 per cent increase in social media views, reaching 545 million. Impressions have grown by 175 per cent, totalling 1.1 billion, while engagements have risen by 163 per cent to 34 million.
The increases in ATP Tour official social media channel reach follow the implementation of a new digital and content strategy grounded in a wider distribution of content through collaborations and cross-posting, a focus on Instagram and TikTok expansion and greater cultural and trend based content, and broader collaboration with other athletes, events, sports leagues, and teams such as Real Madrid, the NBA and F1 to develop newsworthy content. Additionally, the ATP Tour social strategy has prioritised short vertical video, highlights and compelling off court personality driven content to drive interest in the sport’s biggest stars, working in close collaboration with ATP Media. Such content has increased the overall official ATP Tour average engagement rate by 23 per cent year on year and total social engagements by 87 per cent to 139 million.
Additionally, total minutes viewed for the past 12 months on ATPTour.com increased 20 per cent, pageviews increased 13 per cent, and users were up seven per cent.
